


Team Chemistry

by FromTheMountains



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Gen, High School, Not Alternate Universe, Team-fic, That's all I'm telling you. :P
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 11:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16575287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FromTheMountains/pseuds/FromTheMountains
Summary: Samantha Carter can't wait to leave her small midwest town and head out to college next year. Thankfully, her senior year gets slightly more bearable when she makes three new friends. But none of them could have guessed how dangerous things were about to become and how much they would need to rely on one another. Nor could they have known just how well they would come together as a team.





	Team Chemistry

Samantha Carter was late for Physics. Hurrying down the almost empty high school hallway she turned the corner and plowed into someone. Books went everywhere.

“Sorry,” gasped Sam as she picked herself up from the ground. Her hand reached into her short blonde hair to rub the bump that was already forming on the back of her head.

“It's okay,” groaned the brown haired kid in glasses she had creamed. He slowly sat up and then checked his glasses to make sure they weren't broken. 

She hurriedly helped him gather his books. Once he had them, she took off back down the hall. 

She skidded into class just as the everyone else was pulling out their binders. She hustled to her work bench, but had the nagging suspicion the teacher had marked her tardy. Finally settled on the lab stool, she caught her breath as the teacher handed out an assignment paper and started going over the requirements. It seemed pretty straight forward, building a model rocket and measuring the altitude with a protractor during launch. She looked at the due date and frowned. It was a little crammed for the amount of time they had. 

“Your bench partner and you will work together...” said the teacher and Sam groaned. Her bench partner hadn't been there since the start of school. Supposedly she had one, the teacher had said she did anyway. She raised her hand. 

“My bench partner still isn't here,” she said. 

The teacher looked at her for a second “You'll just have to do it without him,” she said finally. 

Great, thought Sam, double the workload. At least she would know it going into this project. Most group projects she ended up doing by herself anyway, because nobody else seemed to do their portion. Still, it felt unfair to have to do the entire project herself, just because the other person wasn't there. Her irritation at the whole situation was still going strong by the time class ended and she headed to lunch. 

 

“Sam!” exclaimed her best friend Janet, as she sat down next to Sam at lunch. “I have someone you should meet!” 

“Yeah?” asked Sam not even glancing up from her textbook. Janet was always trying to hook her up with someone and today she really wasn't in the mood. 

“I've invited him to eat lunch with us, speaking of...” Janet grinned and Sam looked up. The boy she had run into earlier stood there holding a lunch tray. 

“Oh, hi again,” he said with a small smile. “May I?” he gestured to the table. 

“Sure, go ahead,” said Sam moving her books. 

“Daniel, I want you to meet Sam, Sam. Daniel,” said Janet, her short glossy brown hair swinging back and forth as she looked from one to the other.

“We've uh, we've met,” said Daniel a little awkwardly.

“Oh?” Janet's brown eyes sparkled with interest. 

“Yeah, I kind of ran into him before 3rd period,” said Sam “Sorry about that.” She added, still feeling a little guilty. She ignored Janet's eye roll over the fact that she hadn't managed to turn the incident into a dinner invitation. 

“It was an accident,” said Daniel waving off her apology. 

“So, what did you think of that history paper?” he asked conversationally, as he took a bite from his lunch. “I did mine on the Pharaohs of the fourth dynasty. My paper ended up being close to 12 pages! I mean, part of that was because of the translation I had to work out, but...” 

Sam and Janet exchanged a look as Daniel continued explaining the intricacies of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

“I did mine on the discovery of calculus,” said Sam as soon as he paused for breath. She wasn't sure she'd get another chance to say something. It was like looking at someone across a vast gulf. There was no common ground here at all. 

“I did mine on the invention of the hypodermic needle,” added Janet joining in. “But I'm sorry to say it was only the required length of 4 pages.” 

Daniel laughed good naturedly. 

“Yeah, I can get a little carried away when it comes to history,” he admitted. “Hazards of having archaeologists for parents.” 

Well, gulf or not, it was nice to be able to sit and just relax for a while, decided Sam. Her annoyance at the Physics project was dwindling with the cheerful conversation of her two table-mates. They spent the rest of lunch chatting together.

After lunch Janet followed Sam to her locker. 

“He seemed nice,” prompted Janet. 

“Yes, he did,” agreed Sam, not rising to the bait.

“Come on Sam, you're a senior and you haven't dated anyone yet.”

“I just haven't found anyone yet, there's no rush,” said Sam composedly as she gathered her books for her next class. 

“He likes reading almost as much as you do,” said Janet. 

“Wait,” said Sam turning to look at Janet “You tried to set me up with him because he likes to _read_?” 

“So you'd have something in common,” explained Janet patiently. 

“He's a history buff, I'm into science, we don't have anything in....” she sighed. She couldn't decide whether it was sweet or pathetic that Janet had used “Reading” as the most likely option for “How to get Sam a boyfriend”. She knew it was a small school in the middle of nowhere, but suddenly that statement really drove the point home. She sighed.

“Look, it's okay really.” she said. Janet smiled, her warm brown eyes saying she didn't quite believe her, and they headed to class. 

 

A week later Sam was deep into her physics project when the classroom door opened and a boy with close cropped brown hair walked in. He went up to the teacher, handed her a slip of paper, came over to the bench where Sam was working and plunked his bag down on the floor. He sat down, pulled out his binder, and then turned to look at Sam. 

“What are we working on?” he asked nodding to her half completed model rocket. 

“Model rockets,” said Sam shortly “We're going to use a protractor to measure how high they go during launch.” 

“Ah.” he sat for a second tapping his fingers on the surface of the work bench. 

“Where do I get mine?” he finally asked. 

“Technically, this one is yours too,” said Sam using a exacto-knife to carefully cut out a tail fin.

“Oh.” 

“Look uh...” he began and then stopped.

“Sam.” she replied without looking up. She was not looking forward to getting him up to speed on this project, when she'd done half the work herself already, and under serious time pressure.

“Hi Sam, I'm Jack,” There was a slight sarcastic edge to his voice as he mimicked adult introductions. “Look Sam, you've been working on this project all week. You clearly don't need my help...” he began.

Now she did turn to look at him, her sapphire blue eyes glittered dangerously. “If you think I'm going to do this whole project ...”

“Relax,” he said holding up his hands “I'm just going to go get my own rocket. You shouldn't have to share your A with me just because I was late.”

“Oh.” Sam was momentarily taken aback. First that he had decided to do the work himself, despite being already a week behind, and second because he assumed she'd get an A. She would, of course, but there was no reason he should think that. 

Jack got up and went to the teacher to get a rocket kit. 

Ten minutes later they were working silently and Sam's curiosity got the better of her. She had taken him for something of a slacker at first, showing up several weeks into the school year simply because he could. The Bart Simpson t-shirt he was wearing fit the profile too, but his insistence on doing his own work had changed her mind. 

“So, why are you late? School started weeks ago,” she asked conversationally.

“I biked to Alaska this summer,” he replied simply. “It took a bit longer to get back than I planned.” 

“You biked to _Alaska_?” she asked incredulously. 

“Haven't you ever wanted to go somewhere...not here?” he asked turning to look at her. His dark eyes met her blue ones with a surprising intensity. That he was self-driven was suddenly obvious, just not for school apparently. She couldn't really blame him. Their small town in the rural Midwest wasn't exactly her idea of opportunity either, and she couldn't wait to go off to a top ranked college somewhere. Which was why she was working so hard now. 

“Yeah,” agreed Sam shrugging “But after school...you know?” 

“Where's the fun in that?” he said with a slight smirk before turning back to his rocket.

Sam couldn't quite stop the small smile on her face as she went back to work. They were clearly very different people, but there was an underlying similarity too. She was starting to get the feeling that they were going to get along pretty well.

 

Jack rounded the corner of the school building on his way home and suddenly felt himself grabbed from behind. Before he could turn he was flipped around and slammed up against the wall. 

“What the hell do you want?” he snarled as two big guys started rifling through his pockets. 

“Shut up!” snapped the shorter one with spiky black hair and back-handed him hard across the face. Jack's head smacked into the brick wall and his vision spun. He slowly moved his jaw to see if it was broken and tasted blood in his mouth. 

“Let him go,” commanded a deep voice from behind the two punks. 

“Or what?” sneered the one who had backhanded Jack. 

“Or I will make you let him go,” said the voice.

“Yeah?” asked the other punk with lanky blonde hair as he pulled out Jack's wallet “You and what army?” 

Jack saw a dark arm reach between the two punks. It grabbed the forearm that was pinning him to the wall and wrenched it back over the punk's shoulder. Jack crashed to the ground. The punk yelped, dropped Jack's wallet, and grabbed his sprained shoulder. He backed away from Jack hurriedly. 

“Oh, you asked for it,” said his buddy and took a swing at Jack's rescuer. 

Still in a heap on the ground, Jack saw the other guy easily step to the side causing the punch to go wide. With a smooth motion he stepped forward again and caught the punk with a hard right cross. The punk staggered back, hand clutching his broken nose as it began to bleed. The other punk came over to stand by him, still holding his shoulder gingerly. They exchanged a glance, then turned, and fled. 

Jack finally got a good look at his rescuer. It was the new kid everyone was talking about. He was black, about 6' something and looked like he could bench press both of those guys at once. He walked over and held a hand out to Jack. Jack took it and was pulled back to his feet. 

“Thanks,” he said.

“You are welcome,” the other nodded. 

“I'm Jack,” he offered. 

“T,” came the reply. 

“Short for?” asked Jack. 

The kid looked at him and raised an eyebrow that made him look like Spock. 

“Just 'T' then,” nodded Jack “I take it your parents enjoy watching TV?” 

“No, why?”

“No reason,” said Jack shaking his head. Scratch the A-Team reference, he thought. 

“So, T, tell me...do you like pizza?” he asked

“I do,” 

“You been to Luigi's yet?” asked Jack, naming the popular teenage hang out. Luigi's had really cashed in with that student discount idea. 

“I have not,” answered T. He seemed to take everything very seriously. 

“Well,” said Jack scooping up his wallet from the ground “why don't I take you there. My treat. Least I can do after you took care of those guys.” 

“I would like that,” said T inclining his head slightly. 

Jack decided that before they got done eating, he was going to make T laugh, or at least, smile. 

 

“You sure you have the engine inserted properly?” asked Sam, as Jack walked up to the launch pad Her own rocket had flown flawlessly and given her a good data set. Despite the late start Jack had managed to just barely complete his rocket in time. Judging by how tired he looked, Sam suspected there were some pretty late nights involved. 

“They're models for kids,” said Jack connecting the rocket to the launcher “I'm sure they're idiot proof.” he added lightly.

They backed up and he pushed the button on the remote.

His rocket took off with a swish of white smoke and a second later exploded overhead. 

“Crap,” muttered Jack as the lifeless rocket tumbled back to earth. “Maybe I shouldn't have named it the Lawn Dart.”

The damaged body tube of the rocket began to break apart in the wind. The front half came slicing down, cone first, and stuck into the soft ground. Sam pursed her lips to keep from grinning and gave Jack a commiserating look. 

“I didn't get the measurement either,” he said shaking his head. He reached down and gently pried the tip of the cone loose from the ground before picking it up.

“You can probably make a reasonable guess for the height and just work the math backwards to get the measurement,” suggested Sam.

Jack gave her a startled look. 

“Yeah, I'm still working on doing it the forward way,” he quipped.

“All you have to do is...” said Sam and launched into a complicated explanation of the tangent ratio as they walked to the other half of the rocket. “It's not that hard,” she finished encouragingly. 

Jack scooped up the last of the remains of his rocket and gave her a long look. 

“For you,” he said, for once not making a joke. 

 

Jack tried what Sam suggested, but no matter how he worked it, he couldn't get the math to come out right. So, to salvage his project grade, he swallowed his pride, and asked Sam for help after school. They agreed to meet at Luigi's Pizza Parlor later that afternoon. 

“Oh, hey Sam,” said Daniel as he walked into the Pizza Parlor later, his book bag slung over his shoulder. “What are you guys working on?”

“Rocket project,” said Jack glumly. Even with Sam's help he was still having trouble. 

“Do you know how to do it?” asked Daniel looking at Sam hopefully. 

“Sure,” said Sam gesturing to the other side of the table. 

Daniel sat down and pulled out his paper on it. The bells on the front door jingled and Jack looked up to see T walk in. “Hey T!” he called and motioned his friend over. 

“Good afternoon Jack,” said T. “What are you working on?” 

“Rocket project.” 

“I have found that project difficult myself,” nodded T.

“Pull up a chair,” said Sam. 

“We're going to need more pizza,” said Jack signaling the waiter.

 

“A 95%, a solid A!” exclaimed Jack at lunch a week later “I don't know about you guys, but that's a Physics high score for me.” 

Daniel and T nodded, Sam was looking over her project with her brow furrowed. 

“I'm sure we got that last part right though...” she said frowning.

“Come on Sam,” said Jack nudging her “An A's an A.” 

“Close enough for government work,” quipped Daniel, saluting Sam with his drink.

“Which this, undoubtedly, is,” said Jack, gesturing to the public school building that surrounded them.

“You know what, we need to celebrate,” he continued. “let's go to the lake Friday after school!”

“But it's way too cold to swim in by now,” complained Daniel “Wait, don't tell me... “ 

“Fishing!” said Jack “We can all relax and go fishing.” 

“Eh, I'm not really big on fishing,” said Sam giving up on the project and stuffing it back in her backpack. 

“I'm not really big on being eaten alive by mosquitoes,” added Daniel.

“So we'll bring some food, and make it a BBQ too,” said Jack undaunted

The other three exchanged a look, clearly more interested now. 

“Yeah, okay I'm in,” agreed Sam.

“The smoke will help keep down the mosquitoes,” said Daniel. 

“I will come,” said T “Where is this lake?” 

 

They carpooled in T's car, each chipping in for gas and BBQ supplies. The lake was pretty empty when they got there. Most of the summer goers had long since given up on the chilly waters, but one or two brave souls were taking leaps off the dock a hundred yards or so off to the right. 

They pulled out their BBQ stuff and Jack got out his fishing rod. 

“So uh, anyone know how to light this?” asked Daniel poking at the charcoal briquettes. 

“Stack them in a pyramid shape,” said T as he dug through another grocery bag. 

Daniel complied and when he had finished, T arrived with the lighter fluid and matches. He squirted the coals with lighter fluid and then lit several of them with a match. 

“They will be ready in about 45 minutes,” said T settling back to watch the fire. 

“In the meantime, I'll be fishing,” said Jack setting up his lawn chair and pole a few feet away at the edge of the lake. He made a cast, propped his pole up, and slouched down in the chair. He looked utterly content, thought Sam. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. Spending the afternoon relaxing by the lakeside with these guys was a definite improvement to sitting at home alone. Her dad was on a work trip, again. 

She got out a book and started reading at the picnic table where T sat watching the coals. Daniel moved around the clearing checking it out. Eventually he came and sat down at the picnic table too, but he was still restless. 

“Something wrong?” asked Sam looking up from her book. 

“One of these lakes isn't far from an old settlers property” said Daniel looking around “If I'm right and it's this one, there's a trail at the edge of the park that goes about a mile through the woods and ends at an old cabin from the 1800's.” 

“Neat,” said Sam visibly intrigued.

“Yeah,” said Daniel standing back up “T, do I have time before the coals are ready?” 

“It depends on how fast you hike,” said T looking up at him in an appraising manner.

“Great,” said Daniel rubbing his hands and turning to go. 

“Buddy system,” called Jack from the lakeside, raising one finger warningly. 

Daniel looked imploringly at Sam.

“All right, all right,” said Sam closing her book and standing up to join him. “I could use a chance to stretch my legs anyway.” 

As they walked down the trail in the forest, Sam couldn't help but wonder why Jack's comment hadn't bugged her. He was right, they didn't know the area that well, and so the buddy system was a good idea. Still, she wasn't generally one to let people boss her around like that. Neither, she suspected, was Daniel. Yet both of them had acquiesced without a second thought. It felt really odd, when she thought about it like that, but it also felt completely correct somehow. 

That doesn't make sense, she told herself firmly. Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of people ahead of them. 

 

“Jack,” called T some time later “I believe the coals are ready.” 

“Great,” said Jack reeling in his fishing line and setting the pole aside. “I'm starving.” 

They each put on a couple of burgers. 

“Should we put on burgers for Daniel and Sam?” asked T.

“Yeahhh...” said Jack slowly, squinting in the direction they had gone and frowning. 

The burgers finished cooking. Jack and T ate them in silence, Jack was now looking decidedly troubled. 

“Something's wrong,” he said finally. “Daniel might lose track of time, but Sam wouldn't.” 

“I agree,” said T, also sounding concerned.

“Do you have a first aid kit in your car?” asked Jack

“I'm afraid I do not, but I do have a couple of Swiss army knives,” offered T “If one of them is hurt they may prove useful in creating tools to immobilize the injury.”

“Okay, let's pack up,” said Jack “We'll lock the rest of the gear in your car.” 

They threw the stuff in the car and each grabbed a knife. 

“The trail they took is over here.” Jack pointed to small single track at the edge of the clearing. He and T walked off into the brush.

“I think I hear voices,” said Jack about 15 minutes later. 

“They do not sound like Daniel or Sam,” said T as they got closer. 

“No they...” Jack's comment ended abruptly as four large men stepped out from the bushes. “...don't.” 

The men quickly tied Jack and T's hands behind their backs and marched them the rest of the way into the clearing that held the old cabin. In the clearing were several other people milling around. Most were adults, but a few of them were older teenagers, like themselves. Sam and Daniel were sitting on the ground bound and gagged. They looked a little roughed up, but otherwise uninjured. 

“Well, look who we found here!” exclaimed one of the teens coming over. It was the spiky black haired punk who had jumped Jack after school. 

Jack smiled at him without humor. 

“How's the nose?” he asked, the hard glint in his eyes belying the casual inquiry. 

“Oh, a lot better than you're going to be feeling.” grinned the teen nastily.

“Move it you two,” growled one of the men and shoved Jack and T towards the cabin. 

Pushing them inside the dilapidated structure, Jack heard them rousting Sam and Daniel. Once all four of them were sitting inside the cabin one of the guys did a pat down while others stood guard at the doorway. He went to Daniel and removed his wallet. Next he went to T and took his wallet and the car keys. Jack kept his face impassive as he realized that the man had missed the pocket knife. He came to Jack and pushed him forward so he could check the back pocket of his jeans. Finding his wallet, the man pulled it free and pushed him back roughly. As he looked him over, Jack glared sullenly up at him. As long as the man thought he was beat, he probably wouldn't go looking for anything else. The pocket knife lay in his front pocket, nestled out of sight in the fold of his hip. The man seemed satisfied at what he saw and turned to Sam. He checked her pockets and removed her wallet. 

“Hey man, maybe you better check her a little closer,” jeered one of men. “She could be hiding anything in there.” The man stopped and turned back to Sam as if he was considering it. Her blue eyes flickered worriedly up at him. 

“Hey! Leave her alone!” yelled Jack angrily. One of his shoulder muscles suddenly twinged in protest. It dimly registered how hard he was straining against his bindings. He forced his arms to relax. 

The man turned and looked at him calculatingly. 

“We'll leave her alone,” he said “If you stay put.” 

“For crying out loud!” Jack couldn't help rolling his eyes. “We. Are. Tied. Up!” he said, putting as much sarcastic teenager scorn into it as he could. Adults were idiots sometimes. 

“You better stay that way,” growled the man, with a knowing look. Jack sagged slightly as he realized this particular adult was _not_ an idiot. The man reached into his pocket he whipped out a small knife and lunged towards Daniel. Daniel scrambled to get out of the way and then froze as the man cut the gag from his mouth. Then he turned and removed the one on Sam. 

“We'll be back for you after nightfall,” he said “If you're not here, we'll hunt you down and kill you. There's miles of woods around this place and you have no car now. Don't be stupid.” 

The four of them listened as the gang began to make it's way from the cabin. Eventually all that was left was the sound of the wind in the trees and the occasional bird call. 

“Please tell me someone's parents will call 911 when we don't get back home tonight,” said Jack. 

“My parents are dead,” said Daniel quietly. Something in his voice made Jack decide not to ask about it further. 

“I am an emancipated minor,” said T. 

“Really?” asked Jack momentarily distracted “That's cool.” T just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. 

“My dad's working,” said Sam “He won't be back for a week, possibly longer.” 

“You're telling me you have the entire house to yourself all week and you came to the _lake_?” asked Jack incredulously.

“Beats sitting at home and watching TV,” shrugged Sam. “How about your parents?”

“They're on vacation this week. They won't get back til next Sunday,” grimaced Jack.

They all groaned and sagged against their ropes. 

“Any older siblings?” asked Jack, just to keep the conversation going.

The other three shook their heads. 

“Okay, how about a really smart dog?” 

 

“Do you really think they'll kill us if we try to escape?” asked Daniel a few hours later. 

“They weren't shy about beating me up behind the school,” said Jack grimly. 

“They will,” asserted T “They are part of a gang that was common in the city I lived in before coming here. I saw their tattoo on the man who tied us up.” 

“What do you think they plan to do with us?” asked Sam.

“It is likely that we inadvertently trespassed on an illegal activity when we came to the cabin,” said T thoughtfully “They do not wish to draw the attention of the authorities by killing us here. More than likely, they will use the intervening hours to hide their activities, and move us somewhere else tonight.” 

“And...then kill us?” asked Daniel sarcastically. 

“Perhaps,” said T “however, if they have successfully removed the evidence of their criminal activities, it may be safer for them to simply let us go with a warning. There's always the danger that one of the gang may tip off the authorities about a murder to have an adversary arrested. Sometimes it is not worth the risk.”

“So our best bet is to stay put and hope they decide not to kill us?!” asked Sam incredulously. 

“It is not a good situation,” admitted T. 

“Ya think?” said Jack rolling his eyes. 

 

Darkness came and the gang returned. They marched them back out to the lake and forced them into a van. Sam tried to surreptitiously look out the back window from her place on the floor, but before she could see much, each of them had their heads placed in a burlap sack. Her stomach went cold and twisted unpleasantly. It seemed more and more likely that they were all being taken somewhere to be murdered. She heard Daniel shift anxiously on the van floor. Jack and T sat utterly still, but she could almost feel the tension coming off of them. The van started up and drove off. She felt it accelerate as they got on a highway. 

A long time later the van pulled off the highway and turned down a road, then it turned again and the road became extremely bumpy. It's a logging road, thought Sam. After another long interval it came to a stop and the men who had been sitting in the back with them, got up and opened the back doors. The sacks were removed from their heads and they were forced out of the van. 

“End of the line,” said the driver coming over to them.

“You didn't spend all of that gas just to kill us out here,” said Jack making every appearance of ambling towards the driver while he placed himself protectively in front of the other three.

“No,” agreed the driver to Sam's surprise. “We're not interested in dodging a murder investigation, so we thought we'd let the woods do it for us. We're letting you go.” he said with mock generosity.

“In the event that you do make it back however,” he added almost as an afterthought “I would avoid going to the authorities. Our patience with your interference has it's limits.” 

With that the rest of the gang piled back into the van and left. Sam watched the taillights bounce as they went up a small rise and disappeared over it. 

“Well, that went better than expected,” said Daniel somewhat shakily. 

T was on the ground moving awkwardly. 

“T?” asked Jack “You okay?” 

“I am indeed,” replied T sounding pleased. “If you will turn this way, I will cut your bindings.” Sam saw that T had manged pull a pocket knife out of one of his pockets and now held it open in one of his bound hands. Jack knelt and T worked carefully until he had cut off the ropes. Hands free, Jack cut T's hand ropes and they both freed their feet. Then Jack turned to Sam, while T helped Daniel. 

After her hands were free Sam took a moment to rub her wrists to get the feeling back. Jack was busy sawing the last couple ropes holding her feet together. 

“Hey, uh, thanks for your help back there,” she said quietly, so T and Daniel couldn't hear her. She knew he wouldn't have been able to actually _do_ anything about...well, anything, but she appreciated the thought. 

The last rope on her feet came free and Jack turned to look up at her as he put the knife away. In the dim moonlight it was hard to read his expression, but it seemed to be a mixture of concern and grimness. 

Now that they were all free, they took stock of their surroundings. It was in fact, a logging road like Sam had thought. But in the black of night with only occasional moonlight it was impossible to see much else. 

“We're going to have to wait until daylight,” decided Jack. 

“I suggest we sit back to back,” said T “and consider sleeping in shifts to keep an eye out for predators.” 

“I don't think I'm ever going to sleep again,” remarked Daniel. 

“As soon as the adrenaline wears off you won't be able to keep your eyes open,” said Sam. “If we had a flashlight I could probably get a campfire going, but I can't see to get any tinder.” 

“We drove for a long time,” said Jack “morning probably isn't far off. We'll hang tight for now, if we need to spend another night in here we'll stop early enough for a fire.” 

So they all sat down, back to back, each one of them looking out into the woods at 90 degree intervals. 

Sam hadn't counted on how exhausting it was to stare into nothing. Her eyes ached trying to make out shapes in the dim moonlight. Soon, she felt her head nodding. She looked over her shoulder, Daniel's head was already slumped to one side. 

“Sleep Carter,” said Jack “T or I will take the first watch.” 

“Yes sir,” she replied exhausted. For a brief moment she wondered where _that_ had come from, but her fatigue won out and a moment later she had slipped into a dreamless sleep. 

 

Sam awoke on the ground. The sun was just rising and the birds were making a deafening racket. She rolled over and sat up. She tilted her head from side to side to get the stiffness out of her neck and rubbed her arms briskly in the cold dawn air. 

“Up and at 'em campers!” called Jack cheerfully coming back from some trees. 

Daniel yawned and stretched. He started as he looked around and seemed to be surprised that he had fallen asleep. 

“I'm starving,” he commented. 

“Yeah, I'm afraid your burger is back in T's car,” replied Jack. 

“Where is T?” asked Sam looking around. Jack looked up in surprise. 

“He was here a minute ago.”

Just then T shimmied down one of the trees and landed in their midst.

“There is a lake some distance from here,” he said “We may be able to find assistance there.” 

“Let's go!” said Jack and they all started off down the logging road. 

If it weren't for their circumstances, Sam thought, she would enjoy this. The logging road made a good trail and it was a sunny fall day. Late enough in the year not to be too warm, but not frigid yet. The trees were a mass of colors; vivid reds, bright oranges, and golden yellows. They made a beautiful canopy above them. Where branches had already shed their leaves for the season, bright fall sunlight reached down to the forest floor. At one point a swirl of wind brought a wave of colorful leaves across the trail. They fluttered to the ground, crunching satisfyingly under her feet as they passed. The vibrant smell of the forest was invigorating, despite her empty stomach.

“How far do you think we came?” asked Daniel. 

“Well, on a logging road you can't go more than 15-20mph. So I would say probably not more than 50 miles.” said Sam. “Might be a lot less too. I couldn't exactly see my watch.” 

“Two maybe three days of walking,” said Daniel, seemingly undeterred by the notion. Off Sam's surprised look “Archaeologist's for parents, remember?” he replied with a small smile. 

“We'll probably find help before that,” said Jack reasonably “Most of these lakes have houses on them.” 

It was several hours before they reached the lake T had seen. Unfortunately, there was no sign of civilization. While the others rested, Jack walked a few minutes up the logging road. There was no sign of another lake or even creek ahead of them. He frowned as he looked at the ground and kicked a pebble.

Meanwhile, the other three were enjoying the large clearing a few dozen yards from the lake. It was a little unusual to have such an open space in the middle of the woods and Daniel was off searching through the bushes. 

“Hey guys!” he called out as he came back with his hands full of a purplish red fruit. “I found lunch!” 

“Are you sure those aren't poisonous?” asked Sam dubiously. 

Daniel laughed. 

“They're plums!” he said “They're a bit sour, but still pretty good.” 

Sam and T exchanged a skeptical look. 

“This used to be a farm,” explained Daniel gesturing to the clearing. “This clearing we're in was the field. See you can just make out a few of the old rotten fence posts still standing in the distance.” 

Sam looked and saw what seemed to be the twisted remains of saplings scattered about. They didn't look like fence posts to her.

“You know, I bet if we poked around we could find the remains of the old farmhouse,” said Daniel with his mouth full of plum “There could be some interesting stuff left over.” 

Jack came back to the group unusually quiet. They all munched a few plums in silence before he spoke. 

“We should think about staying here tonight,” he said finally. 

“Why? We still have several hours of daylight left,” asked Sam. 

“Because I can't see any water up ahead,” said Jack. “There's also food here, kind of.” He made a face as he bit into another sour plum.

“I estimate we've come close to 12 miles from where we started from. If Samantha's calculations are correct, we could have almost three times that distance left before we reach the main road.” said T. 

“We don't want to find ourselves going another day without water,” said Jack “Also, it's going to take some time to set up a good camp. We're lucky the weather is holding, but it's going to be chilly again tonight.” 

Reluctantly Sam had to agree with him. The others did too. Together the four of them worked to gather firewood and plenty of tinder to make a campsite in the clearing. While Jack and T worked on getting boughs for beds, Daniel and Sam went in search of the farm house to see if they could find anything useful. 

Daniel stopped near the remains of some logs and stones. 

“I think this was it,” he said casting his eye critically along the ground. He stopped and went over to an area near a pile of rocks. Grabbing a small flat rock he started to dig.

“Give me a hand?” he asked Sam. 

“What are we looking for?” she asked joining him. 

“Metal,” grunted Daniel as he drove his rock into the small hole he had started. “This would have been the cooking area next to the fireplace. If we're lucky, we might find a small pot or something else we can use.”

After a few minutes of digging Sam felt a hard metallic scraping under her rock. 

“I think I found something!” she exclaimed. 

They both worked for a while and eventually extracted a small dutch oven. 

“Bingo!” huffed Daniel wiping sweat from his forehead. 

“I'm surprised they left it behind,” said Sam looking at the heavy metal pot. “It must've been very expensive back then.” 

“Might've been too heavy to take with them,” said Daniel “Or...” He stopped and winced. 

“Don't tell me,” said Sam looking up at him. Her blue eyes saying she understood _exactly_ what he just hadn't said. _Or maybe they didn't have anyone to inherit the place._

“A hundred years ago, this was a long way from anywhere...” said Daniel softly looking around the homestead. 

“I think I'm done digging,” said Sam standing up quickly and dusting off her hands a bit more vigorously than necessary. 

“Yeah me too,” agreed Daniel, also standing up. 

They made their way back to the campsite. 

 

Jack and T were still working on the bough beds. It was slow going finding trees that had branches low enough and small enough that they could remove by hand or with the tiny saw that came on the Swiss army knives. 

“What I wouldn't give for... a... hatchet,” grunted Jack as he worked a small pine bough back and forth trying to break it away from it's tree. 

Sam went to the pile of fire wood and selected a few promising looking pieces. Time to see if her dad's various lessons on wilderness survival had stuck at all. 

“T!” she called “Can I borrow your pocket knife?” 

T closed the knife and tossed it to her. She caught it and sat down. Turning the first stick over she chose a spot without knots and started whittling. A few minutes later she had a reasonably flat fireboard, it had a small depression with a notch on the far end. The second stick, she shaved the bark off and rounded the ends. That was the firestick. Not finding a palm sized piece of wood, she searched the shore of the lake for a small flat rock about the same size. She found Daniel working on the shoreline. He had made a small pool with rocks and a tiny entrance. He was placing bits of plum inside. 

“Fish trap,” he said by way of explanation. “It resembles the ones the Native Americans used to make...sort of. I don't have enough time to make a weir.” He sounded disappointed.

“Hope it works,” said Sam eagerly. Daniel nodded, looking a little unsure. 

Sam found the rock she was looking for and went back to the camp. 

Grabbing a bent branch she undid her shoe and pulled out the shoelace. Tying it to the branch on each end, it resembled a limply strung bow. She now had everything she needed. 

She looped the firestick into the shoelace, which caused the string to snug up tightly. Then she placed the firestick in the depression on the fireboard. It was a tight fit, as she had intended. Next, she put some grass in the depression of the rock for lubrication before she placed it on top of the firestick. Then, while pressing the firestick firmly down with the rock, she ran the bow back and forth steadily. The firestick twisted back and forth rhythmically in the depression in the fireboard. 

After a few minutes Sam started to see smoke. She ran the bow back and forth a little faster, the smoke increased. Eventually, out of the notch in the depression, dropped the hot embers. She gingerly added pinches of finely torn bits of dry birch bark to it. The white paper-like bark curled and blackened as the heat from the ember began to eat at it. She added more and blew gently. She repeated this until she had a fist sized ball of shaved bark that was beginning to glow. Adding the tiniest shavings of wood from the tinder pile she managed to get them to start glowing too. Suddenly, deep within the pile of shaved wood and torn bark, a tiny flame sprang to life.

Working methodically, but efficiently she began to add slightly larger pieces of tinder and continued to blow gently on it. The little flame crept along the new fuel and slowly grew bigger. 

Eventually she had a small pile of sticks burning, and by the time T and Jack were finished with the bough beds, they had an honest to goodness campfire. 

Sam sat back to enjoy the flames while she replaced the lace in her shoe. 

“Cool!” said Jack shooting her a grin as he came up. He grabbed 3 straight sticks and started whittling notches in them. At that point Daniel walked up carrying the dutch oven. Inside of it were several small pan fish.

“Anyone up for dinner?” he called. To her surprise, Sam noticed the sun was already beginning to set. Setting up camp _had_ taken a long while. 

“How did you manage to catch that many fish?” asked Sam.

“Waited until a bunch of them were in the pool and then blocked the entrance with a large rock. Then it was just a matter of getting them into the oven...that took a little while,” he admitted. Sam tossed him the pocket knife and he went to work cleaning and prepping the fish.

Seeing the dutch oven, T got up and went into the brush. When he came back he had three stout branches, two with a large Y fork on the ends. Digging two holes, he set up the Y forked branches to support the third branch, which rested just over the fire. 

“Perfect,” said Daniel, taking the cross branch and slipping the handle of the dutch oven over it.

The fish smelled amazing while they were cooking and in an attempt to distract herself from it, Sam looked over to what Jack was doing.

“What are you making?” she asked. 

“Figure four trap,” he replied, testing the fit of two of the sticks in the notches he had carved. “We can take it with us when we go tomorrow.” 

“Good idea.” 

Jack looked at her briefly, but didn't say anything as he finished the last notch. 

He got up and found a short section of a small downed tree a little ways off. Hoisting it up he balanced it carefully to overhang on the top of the 4. Then he stuck a wad of grass and clover as bait on the end of it. Sam's ability to find a way to light a fire with a bow and drill had surprised him. That, and her knowledge of this trap type, told him she had picked up basic survival knowledge somewhere. This meant that her achievements in school, weren't a result of grade obsessed over-specialization. He felt his respect for her rise.

The fish had finally finished cooking and each of them plopped one down on a small flat rock. They weren't cool enough to eat yet, but everyone was so hungry they did so anyway. They ate silently, occasionally burning their tongues or fingers on the hot fish. 

The washed the fish down with more plums and Daniel set some lake water to boil so they could have something reasonably safe to drink. As he pulled the water off the fire, they heard Jack coming back from checking the figure four trap.

“Anyone up for a second course?” he asked, holding up a cleaned and skinned rabbit. 

They rotisseried the rabbit while waiting for the water to cool down enough to drink. 

“Next time we should make these into a soup,” said Sam “Then we won't have to wait for water to drink.” 

“A good idea,” said T. “The broth would provide additional nourishment as well.” 

By the time they had finished the rabbit it was late. Jack staggered exhaustively off into the bush to bury the carcass away from camp while Sam stoked the fire for the night. T made a final circuit around the outer edges of camp to make sure nothing was amiss. Daniel was already stretched out on his bough bed with his eyes half shut. 

“You know,” he murmured. “We're pretty good at this.” 

“Indeed we are, Daniel,” said T with a rare warm smile as he came back to sit down on his bed. 

Jack, coming back from the bushes, saw Sam sitting easily by the campfire. Her arms were looped around her bent knees and she was gazing softly into the flames. She looked as if she was out on a camping trip, not traipsing through the woods with no supplies after a gang had kidnapped and nearly decided to murder them all. She had an underlying toughness that he was quickly coming to appreciate. 

“Figured I would take first watch,” she offered as Jack got back to the campfire. T and Daniel were already snoring softly. 

“Works for me,” said Jack settling himself down into his bough bed, he scooted a little closer to the fire. The air was getting nippy. He expected to fall asleep almost instantly after the long day, but he found his thoughts straying to the image of Sam sitting quietly by the campfire. He was just thinking that maybe he would get up and sit with her, when he slipped into sleep.

As the others slept, Sam sat watching the flames flicker, with only her thoughts for company. She should have been worried. Their situation wasn't desperate yet, but it was still far from certain. Yet she found that she was relatively optimistic about it all. Maybe it was because of who she was with. Daniel had been right, they really did work well together. 

Maybe, a small voice in her head said, it was also because of a specific someone. Someone who casually stepped between the three of them and a potentially murderous gang without a second thought. Someone who, while completely tied up, was still willing to tell a man twice his size to leave her alone. She looked over to where Jack was sleeping by the fire, suddenly grateful that he was there for them, and for her. 

 

As they got ready to go the next morning Sam headed off into some bushes. Jack looked at her questioningly. 

“I'll just be a minute,” she said a little awkwardly, motioning with her head towards a large tree. 

“Ah,” said Jack understanding, and studiously turned in the other direction. 

“Leaves of three, let them be!” he called over his shoulder. 

After a quick breakfast of plums, more of which they stuffed into every available pocket, they set off with the dutch oven full of water, hoisted on a stick over two of their shoulders. The other two carried the fire starter kit, bow, and as much tinder as was reasonable. Sam stuffed a few of the cold coals from the fire in her pocket. They would make starting the next fire easier. 

They walked for half an hour and swapped places. The dutch oven was heavy and the sticks dug painfully into their shoulders while they traipsed along. They walked another half hour and stopped again. 

“T...” said Jack looking ahead down the logging road “Is that your car? Or are Daniel's plums making me see things?” 

“I believe it is,” said T. 

They walked closer and soon it was clear that it was, in fact, T's car. Parked just off to the side of the road, it sat there like it was waiting for them. 

“Why is it out here?” asked Daniel. 

“Likely they brought it out here to dump it when they dumped us,” mused T.

“They couldn't exactly leave it at the lake,” said Jack “once the police ran the plate, it would've been obvious that T was missing, which would've drawn attention.” 

“Doors are unlocked,” called Daniel looking in the diver's side window

T opened the driver's side door. 

“But we do not have the key,” he said disappointingly. 

“I think I might be able to hotwire it,” offered Sam, putting her stuff down and coming over to squeeze in under the steering column. They heard a sharp snap as she broke the plastic cover off the steering column. 

“Sorry T,” said Sam “I thought it would unlatch.” 

“It is all right Sam,” said T nodding at her. “I can have any damage repaired when we get back.” 

There was nothing to do, but sit and wait while Sam struggled with the wiring. 

“This always seems to go faster in the movies,” said Jack several minutes later.

“In the movies they have the proper tools,” grunted Sam as she pulled herself out from under the steering column. In her hand she held two wires that had been stripped roughly with a pocket knife and tied together. Glancing at the dashboard instruments, which were now lit up, she took another bare wire and gently touched it to the twisted wires. The engine labored briefly and then came to life. Sam jumped in the drivers seat and revved it a few times to keep it from dying. “We're in business!” she called happily. 

“Where on earth did you learn to hotwire cars?” asked Daniel as he and Jack piled in the back. Sam got out so T could drive, and went around to get in on the passenger side. She grabbed a left over water bottle from their ill fated BBQ and took a swig. The cool water was incredibly refreshing after the long hike with the heavy dutch oven.

“Are you kidding?” said Jack “She's a straight A student. College is expensive you know.” 

Sam laughed and choked on her water. Struggling to regain her breath, she spluttered and coughed while Jack thumped her on the back a couple of times to help. 

T drove them back to the main road and stopped. 

“Which direction should we head?” he asked. 

“Head south, most of the forested areas are up north,” said Jack. 

“Do we have enough fuel to get back?” asked Sam leaning over from the passenger seat. 

“I believe so,” replied T. 

 

Jack's directions were right. By late afternoon they were back in town and T had driven them to his apartment. They were all grateful to get inside, and even more grateful to use a real bathroom. As they sat in T's living room, sipping sodas and munching left over pizza (Jack never wanted to eat a plum again) Daniel finally brought up the question they were all thinking. 

“So what do we do about this gang?” he asked 

T was quiet and looking into his drink. 

“They said to leave them alone and they'd leave us alone,” shrugged Jack “I'm inclined to go with that.” 

“Yeah, but they didn't exactly leave us alone to begin with,” argued Daniel “First they jumped you at school, then they jumped Sam and I when we went to see the cabin.” 

Jack grimaced as he realized Daniel was right. 

“T, you have any insight to this?” he asked. “T...?” 

T looked up, he seemed very quiet. Which was saying something, thought Jack. 

“I think it would be best, if, after today, you dissociated yourself from me,” said T slowly.

“Why?” challenged Jack. 

“I was not sure at first, but I believe these attacks are not random,” said T looking at them. “In the city where I lived previously, everyone in my neighborhood joined the gang. It was expected of you. I did for a while, but after I saw what they were doing I decided to leave. I went to a judge and was able to secure my emancipation. I moved here and got a job to pay for my apartment while I was in school. It has not been easy, but at least I was free from the gang...or so I thought.” 

“No one leaves the gang.” Sam's expression was as serious as Jack had ever seen it. 

“Not willingly,” admitted T. “This is an old method of bringing someone back. They attacked Jack to show what would happen to people around me, innocent people, if I did not return. They attacked all of us, to show what could happen to my friends.”

“I can't imagine why you ever wanted to leave,” said Jack dryly. 

Daniel was indignant. 

“So our options are, stop being your friend, or possibly get murdered,” he said sarcastically. 

“It would be best if I moved further into the country,” said T. “So no one else gets hurt.”

“It would be best if we stopped them,” said Daniel stubbornly. 

“Yeah, I agree with Daniel on this one,” said Jack nodding across the room to him. 

“Me too,” said Sam firmly. 

T looked at them, about to argue, and then his expression softened. 

“I would appreciate your assistance,” he said. 

 

It felt weird going back to school on Monday, thought Sam as she put her backpack in her locker and grabbed her books. Suddenly she had adults telling her what to do again and even homework to worry about. It all felt a little....tame. 

“Where _were_ you all weekend?” asked Janet as she came up to Sam's locker. “I called your place half a dozen times and came by at least once.” 

Before Sam could answer Jack came up to the two of them. 

“Hey Sam, I think I've got an idea about the problem we ran into this weekend. See you at lunch?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Sam nodding at him. He headed off and Sam was left with Janet who was giving her a wide-eyed look. 

“You know, when I said you needed to date someone I didn't mean...” began Janet.

“Oh no, no, no, no!” exclaimed Sam flushing “It's nothing like that.” 

“But you _were_ with him this weekend,” confirmed Janet suspiciously. 

“Yesss,” said Sam slowly. “Look Janet, can we not talk about this here?” Sam glanced around the hall as students walked by headed to class. 

Janet opened her mouth to tease Sam, just a little, she was her best friend after all, but stopped when she saw how serious Sam looked. 

“Sure,” said Janet simply “Catch me up later?” 

“Yeah,” nodded Sam and headed off to class, grateful Janet was so perceptive. 

 

“How is it that they know you're here?” asked Jack at lunch. They had chosen a table as far away from the other students as they could. “You left the city, you could be just about anywhere by now. How did they find you in this small town in the middle of nowhere?” 

T looked thoughtful. 

“I am unsure,” he admitted. 

“Is there someone in charge of the gang?” asked Daniel

“He is known as 'Pops' on the street,” said T “Only a select few know exactly who he is. He keeps the gang compartmentalized so that no one except his most trusted members are capable of betraying him. I was one of those members.” 

“So when you said you “joined the gang”, you really _joined_ the gang,” said Jack raising his eyebrows. 

“Indeed,” said T grimly. 

“Why haven't you turned him in?” asked Sam. 

“It is not possible to do that in the city where I lived,” said T “The authorities are...untrustworthy.”

“Ah.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, eating their sandwiches and thinking.

“This Pops,” said Jack suddenly “He a reasonable guy? Keeps a cool head making decisions?”

“He is prone to fits of jealousy over anything he considers a lack of respect,” said T. 

“Like leaving the gang,” suggested Daniel wryly. 

“I have seen him bestow many harsh punishments for even the most minor of offenses,” added T. “I would expect that if he knew where I was, he would have me killed.” 

“But he would probably want to do it himself,” said Jack frowning thoughtfully. “You were followed.” 

T raised an eyebrow. 

“I bet if we look at the school records, we'll find another student from your city that transferred here around the same time you did,” explained Jack “He would gather the information for Pops, who would then come here to deal with T personally when the time came.”

“After the gang had the chance to show him the error of his ways,” added Daniel. “Say, by almost killing his friends?” 

“That would mean that Pops is in town right now,” said Sam looking at each of them. 

“And our authorities aren't untrustworthy,” smirked Jack. 

 

Jack knocked on the principal's door after school. The other three stood a few steps behind him. 

“Come in,” said a male voice with a Texan accent. 

Jack opened the door and stepped in. 

“Mr. Hammond?” he asked “We need to speak with you.” 

Hammond nodded from behind a paper strewn desk and the four of them piled into the room. 

“Do you recall the incident a few weeks ago where I got jumped by a couple of punks behind the school?” asked Jack. 

“Yes I do, I'm sorry we weren't able to find them.” 

He sounded angry that they had gotten away, thought Sam. She had never spoken to the principal before, but that comment made her feel much better about what they had come to talk to him about. 

“We know why they did it,” said Jack, and proceeded to explain everything. 

Within minutes Hammond was on his computer and looking up student records. As they suspected, he found a student from T's old city who had matriculated just a week after T did. His home address was also listed in the student record. Daniel frowned as he read it. 

“That house is abandoned,” he stated. 

“I'm not going to ask why you know that,” said Hammond giving him a stern look. 

“Uh, yeah...thanks,” said Daniel a little sheepishly. 

One of these days, his tendency to poke around in old building was going to get him in trouble, thought Sam, shaking her head a little. 

Hammond called the police and they came to take statements and descriptions. Then the four of them waited in Hammond's office while the raid was conducted. The call came at 5:15pm. They had Pops, as well as his gang members. They had been using the abandoned house as a headquarters. They were all being held, without bail, pending trial. 

 

That night the four of them celebrated at Luigi's. Sam marveled at the change in T. He smiled often and his booming laugh was infectious. Jack must have thought so too, because he kept the jokes coming throughout dinner. She caught him looking at her after a particularly good one had caused Daniel to snort soda out of his nose. She grinned back at him. 

Luigi finally chased them out at 9 o'clock telling them to go home and get some sleep. After several farewell hugs, Daniel and T got in their vehicles and headed out. Sam headed to her car, but stopped when she saw Jack lingering by the sidewalk. 

“Need a lift?” she called out to him, hoping he did, if only to have the fun evening not end just yet. 

He turned, smiling slightly, but his eyes seemed sad as he looked at her.

“What's wrong?” asked Sam concerned. She walked over to where he was standing. 

“I'm going to miss this...” he said looking around, before looking back at Sam. “It was fun...”

“You're going somewhere?” Sam's good mood suddenly came crashing down. They all made such a great team, it wouldn't be the same without him....and _she_ was going to miss him tremendously. The realization was sudden, but not any less painful. 

“I don't know,” said Jack looking a little confused now. “I think we all are...” He looked down the road where Daniel and T had driven away.

Impulsively Sam reached out and grabbed his hand, as if she could keep the two of them there with something so simple. Feeling her sudden hand in his, Jack turned to look at her. His dark brown eyes studied her closely for a moment, then he leaned over, and kissed her gently on the cheek. She leaned into it briefly, closing her eyes, and squeezed his hand. 

“See ya around Sam,” he said softly.

 

With a whir of servos and heavy pistons, the door to the pod slid open. Major Samantha Carter opened her eyes and looked blankly at the sunny grass field before her with the large familiar stone ring in the distance. Her thoughts were moving slowly, like thick mud through her brain, as she tried to remember where she was and the name of the familiar structure. She squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced as she tried to recall. 

Stargate, the name came to her. The stone ring was called a Stargate. 

“Easy, easy,” came a friendly male voice “Your mind will clear in just a minute or two. What did I tell you? It's just like coming out of a dream!” 

Carter stepped out of the pod, a little shakily. A man wearing a bright red top with blue pants was standing near it. 

Elan. 

She suddenly remembered his name, he was a member of the local government on P3Y-945. General Hammond had sent SG-1 back to try out their Compatibility Tester, to see if it was something the SGC should use to help create it's team assignments. 

“It felt so real...” she said as she looked around to get her bearings. Next to her, Teal'c and Daniel were outside of their pods, both of them looking a little punch drunk. Colonel O'Neill was slowly emerging from his, blinking his eyes and shaking his head a few times.

“Yes,” said Elan smiling at her “the effects will wear off soon though. What did you think? Were there any errors in the simulation?”

“A couple,” remembered Carter, like the instance where she had called Colonel O'Neill's avatar 'Sir'. 

“Hm,” said Elan thoughtfully “With the differences between the three of you and Teal'c that's actually quite impressive. You see, the pods are designed to use your memories and experiences to build a simulation that all parties could recognize and react appropriately to. The closer the experiences, the better the simulation, which makes for better data on whether or not the individuals will function well together as a team.” 

“And you use this for all of your activities and organizations?” asked Carter picking up her tactical vest from the ground. In the distance, Teal'c, Daniel, and O'Neill had gathered up their gear and were getting ready to go. 

“Not just those, even couples will sometimes use the machine to see if they are a good match,” said Elan “It makes for less paperwork down the road if they're wrong.” He smiled sadly. 

“The Dating Game meets VR,” said O'Neill walking up. “All set Carter?” 

“Yes sir,” she replied. 

“Well, let's go. Dr. Fraiser's going to want to give us the 3rd degree when we get back,” he said jerking his head towards the Stargate. Professional to the last, Carter wordlessly fell into step beside him and the two of them made their way over to where Teal'c and Daniel were standing. Daniel punched up the address on the DHD and within a minute they were stepping through the blue portal on their way home. 

 

“Physically you check out just fine,” said Fraiser looking over the paperwork. “All of your blood work came back clear and your neurotransmitter levels are within established ranges. How do you feel?” 

“Honestly I'm still kind of processing it,” said Carter “They were right, it was a lot like a dream. A dream where you're 'you', but not the 'you' you know with all of your memories and experiences. You have some, depending on what the machine decides to give you for the purposes of the simulation, but honestly it's pretty limited. ”

“Not having your memories or experiences?” asked Fraiser with raised eyebrows “Wouldn't that change your decision making?” 

“Not as much as you might think,” said Carter “I think this device was more to see if personalities fit, not necessarily if you could come up with the right answer about something.”

“Well according to Elan's report you guys came through with some of the highest marks possible,” said Fraiser. “Which we all figured you would, and which was why General Hammond wanted to use SG-1 as the test case. Still, we have to record your official recommendation. Yes or no for team assignments and building?” 

Carter grimaced a bit and shook her head. 

“I'm going to have to say no,” she admitted.

“You and everyone else,” said Fraiser, not sounding surprised. “All right, you're clear to go. The debriefing will be in an hour.” 

 

SG-1 sat uncharacteristically quiet in the briefing room, each wrapped in their own thoughts. General Hammond entered and placed a file on the table in front of his chair as he sat down. 

“You all report that the machine works excellently,” he said, his Texan accent softening the formality of the statement.

“Yeah, that Compatibility Tester is a pretty impressive piece of technology,” agreed Sam. 

“Yet to a one, you all do not recommend it for team building and assessments,” said Hammond looking at each of them curiously. 

“My recommendation is no,” replied O'Neill firmly. His eyes intently studying the pen he was fiddling with.

“Can you elaborate?” asked Hammond looking at all four of them. 

“It doesn't allow you any control over what it uses to create the simulation,” explained Daniel. “There are some memories, and experiences, that people aren't going to want displayed for everyone to see.”

“Thankfully, we didn't really run into that,” said Sam looking around the table for confirmation “but it could've easily happened.” She tried not to think about what _else_ could easily happen. She could still feel where the kiss had been placed on her cheek. 

“It is an intensely personal experience,” said Teal'c, and Carter bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing at the unintended innuendo. 

“Shared with the wrong people, it could prove detrimental,” Teal'c finished. 

Hammond nodded.

“Okay, we'll keep building teams the old fashioned way then,” he said “Dismissed.” 

As Hammond returned to his office, O'Neill looked around at his team who had all remained sitting at the table. Clearly they were still a bit out of sorts. 

“Hey,” he said swatting the table good naturedly “How about we take a team weekend and go camping?”

“We go camping for work...” said Daniel slowly and looking at his other team mates in confusion. 

“Yes, but we're not likely to be attacked by the Goa'uld here, so it should be much more relaxing,” explained O'Neill. 

He turned just in time to see Carter chuckle to herself. He grinned and looked over at Teal'c, who seemed cautiously interested. 

“Well?” he asked looking back at Daniel. 

Daniel looked at his other team mates, taking in the mood of the table. 

“Yeah, okay.” he agreed readily. 

 

So that weekend, they went up into the mountains, found a peaceful spot under some pine trees, and pitched their tents. A large creek rushed nearby, adding a soothing background noise to the small clearing. 

“This appears to be a highly inefficient method of cooking food,” said Teal'c as he surveyed the marshmallow on the end of his stick. 

“It's not about the food, it's about the experience,” explained O'Neill, exasperated. 

“Plum?” asked Daniel innocently, rummaging through the cooler. 

“ _Some_ of it is about the food,” O'Neill corrected himself. 

Teal'c held the stick with the marshmallow over the campfire, within seconds it had caught fire. He raised an eyebrow as it flared briefly and then went out.

“I seem to require another,” he said finally, letting the crisped remains of his first one fall from the stick. Carter grinned and tossed him the bag of marshmallows. Her own was a light golden brown and just about ready to eat. 

“So,” said Daniel sitting down in his folding camp chair by the fire with a soda. “what did you guys think of the simulation?” 

“I just had one question about it all,” said O'Neill turning to look at Carter. She looked at him with a carefully neutral expression. 

“Did you really know how to hotwire a car back then?” he asked sounding both impressed and vaguely scandalized at the same time. 

“Actually, yeah,” said Carter nodding as she pulled her marshmallow off the stick “I had a friend who tended to lose her keys a lot.” 

“I did have one question about you though,” she looked at him innocently and was pleased to see him stiffen slightly in his chair. Turn about was fair play.

“Did you really bike to Alaska?” she asked, looking at him like she wanted to say that was crazy, but couldn't because he was her superior officer. 

“It was...” O'Neill considered how best to explain it. “It was the Midwest.” he said finally. 

“Teal'c and I got out before you,” remarked Daniel “Did the simulation go longer for you guys?”

“About a minute,” said Carter popping the marshmallow in her mouth. The crisped golden outside broke and the smoky sweet mallow cream suddenly brought back long forgotten memories of summers from her childhood. 

“Any idea why?” asked Daniel

She shrugged, grateful for the mouth of marshmallow that kept her from having to come up with an answer. If the guys found out they would never let either of them live it down. Ever. 

“Because even in an alien VR game, we're forced to deal with lag,” said O'Neill rolling his eyes.

Carter snorted with laughter and then yelped.

“I think I just got marshmallow up my nose.” her half laugh, half whine, was muffled as she rubbed her nose briskly in an attempt to clear her sinuses. 

Daniel and Teal'c laughed outright as O'Neill reached over and plucked a napkin from the supplies. He handed it to her with a grin.

So much for her pride, she thought with amusement, knowing one of them would probably sneak a bag of marshmallows into her lab Monday morning. 

Maybe she could strike first with some plums? 

Fin.


End file.
